


A fighter's first Christmas

by idk_ilike5sos



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas, Christmas Party, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Liam Dunbar, Liam Dunbar & Mason Hewitt Friendship, Liam Dunbar Loves Theo Raeken, Love Confessions, M/M, Protective Theo Raeken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:35:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28315398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idk_ilike5sos/pseuds/idk_ilike5sos
Summary: Liam didn't know when the last time Theo had a normal Christmas was. The Dread Doctors obviously didn't seem like ones for the Holidays and he'd been informed his last Christmas with his family his parents had been crying the whole time since it was shortly after Tara's death - "and shortly before theirs", Theo had tried to joke about it but Liam found it hard to laugh: which resulted in Theo rolling his eyes and calling him boring and fragile.But this year everything would be different, Liam would make sure that he had the best Christmas he could ever dream of. And since Theo had recently moved into the spare bedroom of the Dunbar-Geyer household it'd be a lot easier than Theo would likely prefer.-Though Liam likely didn't plan everything as thoroughly as he should have...
Relationships: Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt, Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 8
Kudos: 53





	A fighter's first Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Liam didn't know when the last time Theo had a normal Christmas was. The Dread Doctors obviously didn't seem like ones for the Holidays and he'd been informed his last Christmas with his family his parents had been crying the whole time since it was shortly after Tara's death - _"and shortly before theirs"_ , Theo had tried to joke about it but Liam found it hard to laugh: which resulted in Theo rolling his eyes and calling him boring and fragile.

But this year everything would be different, Liam would make sure that he had the best Christmas he could ever dream of. And since Theo had recently moved into the spare bedroom of the Dunbar-Geyer household it'd be a lot easier than Theo would likely prefer.

Throughout the month of December Liam had been forcing the Christmas spirit onto Theo through his friend's and family's traditions. They decorated the tree on the tenth, watched Christmas movies all day every Sunday, then went to Mason's annual party that always ended in a three day long sleepover. And, finally, the family Christmas party hosted on Christmas eve at different houses each year - this year, due to Liam's request - was going to be held at theirs.

For the most part, Theo didn't seem fazed by any of his attempts at wiping the grinch facade away, but Liam often caught Theo smiling to himself as he joined in the activities.

Liam was adamant to break Theo's act at the family party and when the day finally came he decided to up his Christmas-y joy by ten. He began the day by making pancakes for everyone and waking Theo... by laying on him.

"Get off me." He squirmed on his stomach and jolted his shoulder into Liam.

"Get out of bed," Liam said, satisfied with his method.

"I can't whilst you're on top of me, dumbass," He growled.

"I'll move."

Theo sighed with relief, "Finally."

"But only if you wear what I brought you." Liam hadn't shown him what he'd gotten and he could almost hear Theo contemplating whether to just push him onto the floor or not.

"Fine," He begrudgingly mumbled. Liam grinned and rolled onto the other side of the bed, smirking at Theo who served a look that could kill.

"Breakfast's ready, then get in the shower and I'll put your clothes on your bed." If possible, Theo's frown deepened - clearly regretting his decision more by the second. But without given the chance to take back his word, Liam got off the bed and went downstairs.

Theo soon joined Liam and his parents at the kitchen table with a half-grumpy-half-worried expression.

"Morning, sweetie," Liam's mom said warmly as Theo pulled out the chair next to Liam and sat down. "Everything okay?"

He hummed a response, his eyes only briefly leaving Liam to put some pancakes and syrup onto a plate.

Liam left the table after finishing his breakfast and headed to his room to take the labels off the new clothes.

By the time they were off Theo was in the shower, so he took his stuff into his room and set it out neatly on the bed, then returned to his own room to change.

When Theo had finally gotten out of the shower, Liam was in the living room watching TV with his stepdad.

His stepdad's phone rang and Liam's aunt's name appeared on the screen, he answered the call and stepped out of the living room - leaving as Theo came in.

"Looking good, kid." His stepdad patted Theo on the shoulder and headed towards the kitchen. He wasn't lying. On sight, Liam's eyes widened and chest tightened. Theo did look good.

He hesitantly walked into the middle of the room and studied the long mirror that sat above the TV. Liam watched closely and came to the conclusion that he'd made all the right choices. The black button-up with the navy sweater on top complemented his muscles and pale skin, whilst the black jeans hugged his figure in the right places and the black dress shoes, light brown belt and few silver rings tied it together. Not to mention that his slightly longer than usual hair made him look all the better.

"Wow." Liam accidentally slipped out. Theo turned around and his eyes narrowed attentively. "You  _ almost _ look like you weren't a murderer."

Theo scoffed, going back to the mirror to sort the collar of his shirt. Liam had dressed in mostly the same, though a burgundy shirt and shoes, a red sweater and no rings; whilst shopping he hadn't intended on buying rings, but when he passed them and pictured them on Theo's perfect hands he couldn't not buy them. He liked Theo's hands a lot. He liked Theo's everything a lot.

Liam wished he could pretend he hadn't made them match intentionally.

"You look good," Theo said, engrossed in pulling his collar to the left then even more to the right and repeating the process.

"Thanks." Without thinking, he stood and walked in between Theo and the mirror. Liam put his hands on the collar in replacement of Theo's and gently pulled it into the centre. He stepped away, analysing the position, then caught sight of Theo watching him intently. He mumbled, starstruck, "You look good too."

All of a sudden, the doorbell went and Liam almost regretted asking for it to be at their home, since suddenly wanting to bail and be with Theo only. But this wasn't about him, this was about Theo and giving him the best Christmas he ever could ask for. So he pushed his selfish desires aside and headed towards the front door to greet the first to arrive.

Within the following hour Liam's close relatives had all shown - including Corey, Mason and his parents due to them being as close as family.

For the most part of the first few hours, the four boys sat aside from everyone else, having their own conversations and laughing hard enough to not care if anyone could hear what they were talking about. Even Theo had been comfortable enough to speak freely: as expected, Liam's plan was falling exactly in place.

Now all he had to do was wait until the end of the night, after everyone had gone home, so he could finally confess his feelings and hopefully kiss him in peace. Mason was the only other person who knew the plan, he'd helped come up with it even. It was all perfect.  _ Was. _

"Theo, this is Rachel, Liam's cousin." Liam's mom came over to the group, pushing along his cousin his age. "I think you two will get on very well." She winked at him behind Rachel's back then walked away - unintentionally crushing Liam's soul in the process.

"Hi." He smiled politely and stood up. She gazed in obvious awe, giving him a once over and smiling back. Since when was Theo nice to strangers? Since when was Theo nice to  _ anyone _ ? 

"Hey." She blushed and Liam couldn't resist the urge to roll his eyes.

"Do you wanna go get a drink? Mines practically empty," He said, casually glimpsing into a half-full cup.

"No, it's not." She gave him a questioning look, though still smiling dopily.

Theo brought the drink to his lips and downed it, maintaining eye contact, then showed her the empty cup. He raised his eyebrows and the corner of his mouth quirked up. "Yes, it is."

She giggled and they walked away, leaving in the direction of the kitchen.

"Liam…" Mason put a hand on Liam's shoulder whilst he frowned at his hands in his lap.

"What the hell just happened?" He mumbled.

"Your mom set Theo up, shouldn't this be a good thing?" Corey asked.

"Liam was planning on asking Theo out tonight," Mason quietly answered, being careful to make sure no one, especially not Theo, overheard.

"Oh-  _ Oh _ … Sorry, Liam."

"I'm gonna go for a walk, I won't be long."

For the most part, the streets were empty, with the occasional people unloading shopping from their cars.

"Hello." An overjoyed child waved as Liam passed.

"Hey." He waved back with a weak smile then pulled the jacket he'd picked up on the way out closed. After walking for a while he'd realised it was Theo's and most of him didn't mind, but the rest couldn't stop imagining the idea of him with Rachel.

Liam couldn't wrap his head around it: the love of his life not only not with someone else but with his cousin. Though no one was to blame except himself, he should have planned to speak to Theo earlier on and maybe he wouldn't be in this mess. Or maybe he'd be in an even bigger one if he was rejected.

His phone then started ringing and he pulled it out of his pocket to find that the person calling was Theo. He hesitated before answering and brought the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" His voice quivered and he bit his lower lip awaiting his reply.

"God, don't sound so scared," Theo laughed and the warm sound put him at ease at an instant, "Where are you? I can't find you anywhere."

"Went for a walk, but I'm on my way back now." There was shuffling on the other side of the phone.

"Why'd you leave, is everything alright?" He asked more sternly.

"Yeah, just needed some air, forgot how overwhelming it can be to have everyone round, you know?" Liam huffed a laugh, not technically lying. He was overwhelmed. It was because someone was round. But he had a feeling Theo could tell he wasn't telling the whole truth.

"Stay where you are, I'm coming to pick you up," Theo said, leaving no room for argument. Liam did as told and let Theo know what street he was on, then ended the call; he was just praying that Rachel wouldn't be coming along too.

Soon Theo's truck came around the corner, a little too quickly to have not been speeding, and stopped in front of him: thankfully with only Theo inside it. Liam got into the passenger seat and put his seatbelt on. Theo stared at him, seeming whiter than usual though his cheeks and the tip of his nose slightly pink from the cold.

"I'm okay," He reassured, but Theo didn't buy it. "Sorry for making you leave Rachel."

"Well, I'm not sorry for leaving her, you look like you're about to pass out." Theo briefly pressed the back of his hand against Liam's cheek. "You're freezing." He sighed then turned up the heating.

"You didn't have to come get me." Liam shrugged. "I would've been fine."

"Sure you would've." He rubbed the top of Liam's thigh then began to drive them home.

When they got back everyone was in the living room and it seemed like no one noticed they'd left: except for Rachel who came over when seeing them taking their jackets off at the door.

"Hey, everything all good now?" She asked, primarily talking to Theo - who looked like he couldn't care less about what she had to say.

"Mhm." He nodded, though keeping his eyes pinned to Liam. "You should go lay down."

"I'm fine," Liam said, barging between the two.

"No, you're not." Theo grabbed onto his wrist and Liam turned to face him. He asked softly, "What's going on with you?"

"Fine." Liam swallowed and exhaled bitterly, "I'll go lay down." He nudged Theo's shoulder as he passed him and went upstairs.

"You're so nice and caring," Rachel said after Liam slammed his door shut.

"Yeah, thanks," Theo replied half-heartedly.

Liam lied on his bed and used his hands to cover his face. This was not how today was supposed to go. The four boys were supposed to have fun together, without Rachel practically drooling over Theo. Then just before Liam went to bed he was supposed to pull Theo aside and confess his love for him. And Theo was supposed to say that he felt the same. Now none of that was going to happen, even more so since Liam was snapping at him when he was just being a good friend.

He didn't intend to, but Liam eventually fell asleep for a few hours. When he woke everyone was still downstairs and the sun was out - he checked the time: four pm.

Liam rubbed his eyes and went downstairs.

Rachel was alone in the kitchen and he decided he should probably go talk to her.

"Hey, sorry about earlier," He apologised, feeling embarrassed and ashamed.

"Seriously? Don't be." She smiled kindly. "I know about your IED, I know you can't control it sometimes."

Rachel really was a great girl and Liam, even though feeling completely torn apart, knew that if Theo wouldn't be with him then he'd want him to be happy with someone like her. But that didn't mean he wouldn't take opportunities when presented with one…

"Do you know where Theo is? I should probably apologise to him too," Liam laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, he just went to the bathroom." She nodded. "He's really nice, I think I'm gonna ask him out."

And that was when Liam was presented with an opportunity.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I was you," He said without a chance to debate if it was a good idea or not.

"Why?" She frowned.

"Because he's gay." Rachel's eyebrows shot up and her eyes widened. That was definitely a bad idea, but it's okay he could just say that he's kidding. "But don't bring it up because he's not ready for people to know yet - I just told you so you wouldn't embarrass yourself."

Oh no. He made it worse. It was too late now, he couldn't take it back. All he could do now was hope and pray that Rachel wouldn't pry or talk to Theo about it.

O _ r _ he could just go explain everything to Theo himself, including the part where he accidentally fell in love with him months ago, and then maybe he wouldn't be risking Theo hating him for the rest of eternity. Maybe.

"I'm gonna go find Mason now." God, could he not do  _ anything _ his head told him to do?

Liam found Mason and Corey with Mason's parents in the far corner of the living room. His friends read the panic on his face and came towards him. When reaching each other in the middle of the room, they stepped out of hearing range from as many people as possible.

"I did something bad, like really bad, but I can't take it back," Liam rambled.

"Wait, hold on a second, what did you do?" Mason interrupted.

"I told Rachel Theo's gay but not to talk to him about it because he's not out yet." Liam put his hand across his forehead.

"Liam…" Mason said disapprovingly.

"What's wrong with that?" Corey's eyebrows furrowed. Mason and Liam shot him questioning looks. "He  _ is _ gay."

"How d'you know that?" Liam's arm dropped to his side

"Name one thing he did that's  _ 'straight' _ ," Corey scoffed.

"I don't know, wasn't there something between him and Malia when we first met?"

"Kinda, but you never had to hear him go on about how easy it was for him to trick her." Corey rolled his eyes, clearly not appreciative of being reminded.

"Liam," Mason said, taking their attention off Corey, "You need to tell Rachel you lied."

"I can't! She'll ask why and then I'll end up telling her that I'm in love with the guy!" He said through gritted teeth.

"Then tell Theo the truth."

"Can't do that either, because I'll end up telling him," He sighed.

"Shouldn't that be a good thing? I mean, I always thought that there was a way bigger chance of Theo having a thing for you than the other way round." Again, Liam and Mason shot the laters boyfriend puzzled looks, then facing each other again.

"No, you didn't."

"Oh, must've been a dream." He shrugged.

For the rest of the night, Liam remained anxious of what could be hiding within each new second. He purposely stuck by, at least, either Mason or Corey's side and tried his best to steer clear of Theo and Rachel.

By the time everyone had gone home, Liam almost forgot why he'd been avoiding Theo all day.

His parents were getting ready to go to bed and just the two of them were downstairs clearing cups and plates so they wouldn't have to do it on Christmas morning.

"Rachel's nice," Theo tied the second trash bag they'd filled. Liam didn't say anything in return. "She did start acting strange halfway through the day though."

"Oh yeah?" Liam paled and tried to focuse his attention on picking up the plastic cups that were left on the living room's coffee table.

"Yeah, so I asked if everything was alright and she said the randomest shit." He crouched down next to him, pushing the plastic into a new trash bag.

Liam gulped, "What'd she say?"

"She told me that she knew I was gay and that she just wanted to say that she's cool with it."

Liam's heart picked up and he was certain Theo could hear it. "That is strange."

"But you wanna know what the strangest part was?" Theo stopped what he was doing and watched Liam intensely. "When I asked her where she heard that she said you told her."

Liam looked at Theo, who somehow wasn't showing any signs of frustration. He spluttered, "I'm sorry!"

"What is it? Do you really not want me to be a part of your family that much?" He somehow kept himself unreadable. Liam couldn't tell what he was trying to do, but either way he felt awful for what he'd done.

"No, I  _ do _ want you to be a part of the family- you  _ are _ a part of the family."

"Then I don't get it," Theo began to raise his voice, "What the hell do you want?"

" _ You! _ " Liam shouted and took deep breaths to calm himself. He swallowed the lump in his throat, now knowing that he didn't need to hide a thing anymore. "Us."

Theo's mouth slowly dropped open like he was about to say something but it soon closed again as he looked away with a confused frown.

Liam sighed and walked into the kitchen, picking up the full trash bag on the way through. He put it down by the door to the backyard and opened the closest drawer to find the key.

Theo appeared in the entrance of the kitchen, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was going to." Liam pushed his hand into the back of the drawer and felt around for anything that could feel like the right shape. "But then you and Rachel hit it off and I panicked."

"Is that why you went for that walk?" Liam froze, unsure of what to say or if to even speak at all; he chose to keep feeling around for the key. Something fairly sharp printed a few dents into Liam's thumb and he figured he'd found what he'd been looking for. He took his hand out the drawer, holding what he needed.

"You know, you weren't wrong…" Liam peered up at Theo through his eyelashes, "what you told Rachel."

He lifted his head to watch him properly, "That's- That's good." He nodded. "Not that it would be bad if you weren't, I'm just glad I don't have to tell Rachel that I was lying."

"Uh-huh." Theo crossed his arms and leaned on the door frame. "You're kinda, well,  _ oblivious _ sometimes… But I guess that's just one of the many things that made me fall for you."

A smile grew across Liam's mouth and he bit lightly on his bottom lip, "You fell for me?"

"Kinda surprised you didn't put two and two together a second ago, I literally told you I'm gay after asking why you didn't tell me you liked me."

"I didn't want to assume anything!" Liam defended. Theo just looked at him highly unimpressed.

Liam's throat suddenly went dry when a thought crossed his mind. "Does this mean I can kiss you?"

"Oh my God," Theo groaned, "yes!"

"Hey, this isn't easy, you know? Nothing's going how I thought it would - I had this whole speech planned out, it would've been great. Trust me."

"A whole speech, huh?" Theo smirked, pushing himself off the door and coming closer to Liam. "How does it go?"

"Well." Liam smiled and grabbed Theo's hands once he got close enough. "Theo, I have to tell you something that I won't be able to explain properly to anyone else, because they're not us. No one really gets that just because we purposely push each other's buttons that it doesn't mean that we don't care about each other."

Each word flowed after the other like all the times he'd stumbled over them whilst practicing never happened. "Because I do care about you a lot… A lot more than I ever anticipated, but during the past few months I've come to realise that I don't  _ just _ care about you."

Theo gave Liam an incomparable confidence, he wouldn't have had the guts to do half the things he'd done without him by his side. "Theo, I don't know when and I don't know how but I fell in love with you and you're stupid ways. I love how you always protect me, I love your cold-hearted jokes and that you've stopped being afraid to show me your true self."

Whenever imagining this situation playing out he expected nothing less than to be a scared mess, but on most occasions all Theo had to do was breathe and he felt assured that everything was going to be okay. Like it was going to be now. "And  _ that _ , more than anything, is what I want: for you to be yourself, because you're perfect. You made mistakes in the past but I couldn't think of anyone who deserves love and forgiveness more than you do. So, if you feel the same way, I'd love it if I was able to call you my boyfriend."

Theo smiled softly as pure adoration shone in the tears in his eyes. "Then this is the part where you're supposed to say  _ 'I love you too, Liam' _ and we kiss."

"I love you too, Liam." Theo let go of his hands and pulled him in so their bodies were touching. Liam held onto the back of Theo's neck and leaned in to,  _ finally _ , kiss him. He could tell that there were still traces of uncertainty from both of them, but on the most part they were greeted by each other's slow and tender love.

*•*

The next morning Liam woke up lying next to  _ his boyfriend _ in his bed. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, partially expecting Theo to no longer be there when he looked back, but he was grateful to find him still fast asleep.

As his sight adjusted to the morning, his eyes went around the room and he listened out for any signs of his parents awaking; but he soon settled on watching Theo again.

Liam found it weird how he slept: on his stomach, an arm under his pillow and the other draped over Liam's waist. Though he had to admit the comfort of the weight on him was nice.

Soon enough, Theo's heart began to gradually pick up and his eyes fluttered open.

"If you lay on me again, this time I won't hesitate to punch you." Charming. Liam laughed and sat up in the bed. He grabbed his phone and checked the time: eight am.

At that moment, he remembered that Mason had no clue what had happened after he left. So, as any good best friend would, he unlocked his phone to text him.

**Liam**

**Corey was right**

Only seconds passed when he had a response.

**Mason**

**About what??**

**Liam**

**Theo is very gay**

**Mason**

**Ooh :)**

**How'd you know?**

**Liam**

**Because a straight guy wouldn't make out with another guy then cuddle him in his sleep for the rest of the night**

**Mason**

**Send me a picture RIGHT NOW!!**

**Liam**

**Can't**

**He woke up ://**

**Mason**

**Damn.**

**Call me later and tell me everything?**

**Liam**

**Definitely**

"We've been together for less than twelve hours and you're already talking to other people behind my back?" Theo said in a raspy voice and raised his eyebrows.

"Yep." Liam put his phone down and faced Theo with a fake guilty expression.

"Wow," He scoffed, "all men are pigs."

He turned on his back and leaned on his elbows to prop himself up. Liam couldn't help but miss the warmth of his touch on his skin.

"Liam-" His mom opened the bedroom door. "Oh, hi, sweetie."

"Morning." Theo nodded.

"Come down in five minutes." She said and left the room - as if she hadn't just seen her son not only laying in bed with another boy but the boy they live with. But Liam tried his best to ignore it, after all, this was all still about giving Theo a good Christmas.

The rest of the day went on as Liam had planned it to. They opened presents, Scott and Malia briefly came round to exchange gifts with them (Theo and Malia didn't even argue) and they all helped prepare dinner with  _ minimal _ messing around. It was like the exhausting lead up and long day they'd had prior was all made up for.

"Wait here," Liam's stepdad insisted as he momentarily left the kitchen and when returning held two flat, rectangular presents. He sat back down and passed the boys one each. They began to unwrap them as the two grown ups watched them, smiling. "This morning your mom went and got two pictures printed off for us to hang up."

Liam had his open first, revealing a picture of all four of them taken yesterday.

"We realized we didn't have any pictures of Theo around the house, so we decided we needed some," His mom said softly. "And, yesterday evening I was coming downstairs to help clear up when I overheard you two talking; I didn't hear it all but I understood what was happening…"

He looked over at what Theo held to see a picture of just them two that was also taken the day prior. Theo had his arm over Liam's shoulders and Liam had his tightly around Theo's waist, they were both smiling at each other.

"Wow, um, thank you," Theo said staringing closely at the picture he was holding.

When they entered the living room Liam's stepdad got out a hammer and two nails. His parents grabbed the pictures and started holding them in random places on the walls to figure where they should be put.

They finally settled on the wall behind the couch, next to some photos from the vacation Liam and his parents had gone on with Mason's family last year.

Liam's stepdad put the first nail against the wall and after a few hits it went in far enough, Liam's mom handed him the picture of all four of them and he put it on the nail. He repeated the process with the second then stood back and took it all in.

"There." He smiled.

Liam grabbed Theo's hand and looked up at him, smiling lovingly.

**Author's Note:**

> Again... MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I hope you all enjoy/enjoyed your day :) My present to all of you as a thank you for reading my fics is another fic of these two adorable idiots being hopelessly in love 🖤
> 
> As always, kudo's, comments, saves and bookmarks are highly appreciated! I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time 🖤🖤🖤🎅


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